by In an era where dietary choices have far-reaching implications, Professor Danit Shahar, from the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Community Health at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, aims to unravel the complex relationship between our food choices, as a whole . well-being, and environmental impact, emphasizing the importance of healthy and sustainable diets.
“My research focuses on the relationship between diet and health in different age groups,” she says. Professor Shahar is pioneering new ways of assessing diets, combining traditional methods with cutting-edge techniques. Her approach evaluates various food exposures, from dietary patterns and processed foods to pesticides, environmental influences, and additives. Shahar examines how these factors influence health outcomes such as obesity, diabetes, geriatric functioning, and overall nutritional status.
Professor Shahar’s research methods are holistic, assessing all parts of the nutritional equation. “A high consumption of a certain product always comes at the expense of something else in the overall diet,” she emphasized. “And in our research, we try to combine all the variables.”
Her research is breaking new ground by linking sustainable food choices to improved health outcomes. “We created a food library that covers the environmental footprint based on data provided by one of my colleagues. Based on this work, we calculated the environmental impact of the Israeli diet and we are now working on strategies to to promote healthy and sustainable
By carefully evaluating the land use, water consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions associated with different foods, she highlights the significant ecological footprint of our diets. “It turns out,” she said, “that the Mediterranean diet, which is rich in fruit and vegetables, olive oil, and fish, and which includes little meat and dairy consumption, is extremely sustainable in terms of emissions.”
For example, Greek and Italian diets are prime examples, which are based on home cooking, and are very rich in olive oil. “Although,” she says, “even these two arts have other products that are not as beneficial.”
One of the advantages of the Mediterranean diet is that it is low in animal products, which are characterized by very high greenhouse gas emissions. “If beef is 100% on the emissions scale,” she said “the emissions associated with hummus will be only 1%. This is how significant the gap is.”
Israel is unique in this respect because its problem is not with meat, says Professor Shahar. “In Israel,” she said, “the high consumption of milk and other dairy products leads to large greenhouse gas emissions.” Her goal is to find strategies to reduce these effects without resorting to drastic measures: “We aim for gradual reductions rather than drastic measures, which allows us to look at the real impacts,” she says she Her studies show that even modest dietary changes can have a significant impact on obesity, cognitive function in older adults, and concentration.
Professor Shahar’s research also looks at the prevalence of ultra-processed foods in modern diets and their far-reaching consequences, “Nutrition is amazing,” says Professor Shahar. “It encompasses everything—after all, we all eat. It connects with everyone, and it’s very behaviorally significant.”
“In public health,” she says, “the real world is your teacher, and you’re always learning. That’s especially true in my research, where we study not only the entire field of nutrition in old age and how it affects cognitive and physical. For example, the field of ultra-processed food (UPF) has recently been brought to the public’s attention because of the diseases that arise from it, which are becoming more common.”
Through numerous industrial processes, ultra-processed foods are products that cannot be replicated in anyone’s home kitchen. They are often high in added sugars, unhealthy fats, and artificial additives such as preservatives, colorings, and flavor enhancers. For example, sugary drinks, packaged snacks, ready-to-eat meals, and reconstituted meat products.
Professor Shahar hesitates to even refer to them as ‘food’. “In Hebrew,” she says, “‘food’ derives from the word ‘life,’ which brings to light the idea that a person would provide nourishment to his body. While UPF could be something that could be called ‘food ‘ to replicate, it is not nutritious in the least, as most of these products are far from real nutrition.”
Not one to shy away from diving into the complexities of his field, Professor Shahar in public health promotion is driven by a deep curiosity about the interaction between diet, health and the environment. “You often see when people go on a diet, they don’t just eat less,” she explains, “but they change their whole way of eating – which is beneficial. They’ll notice that they sleep better and have more energy long before they mention anything about weight loss.”
She regrets that the focus is more on developing new products rather than improving existing ones, adding to the joke that “cucumbers don’t have lobbyists.”
“We are talking about the whole food system – starting with the planting of the seeds, the growth of the cow, and the years until it becomes fertile. The effect here includes everything, and even this is an underestimation because, because for example, Food waste is often left out. The lack of knowledge has a very significant impact on the field.”
“Eating a meat substitute made from pea and beet protein and eating the ingredients in their original form will never be the same,” she says. “If the factory had taken the vegetables, minced them, added a binding agent like eggs or flaxseed, and fried them as they are, there wouldn’t be any problem. The issue is making a product which has to be kept in the freezer for a long time, so there must be additional ingredients that exceed its nutritional quality.”
Professor Shahar hopes that her research will have a significant impact on the general public. By emphasizing the critical links between diet, health, and the environment, she hopes to encourage community interventions that implement gradual changes in dietary habits, “so that everyone knows what they eat, and not see it as something non-consequential or elitist.
Aiming to bridge the gap between dietary choices and their wider consequences, Professor Shahar is passionate about influencing the eating habits of young people as they shape the future of our planet. “I believe in education,” he concluded, “really putting these ideas into practice and creating participation and encouraging people to be proactive.”
Despite the challenges, Professor Shahar emphasizes her desire to work alongside industry to create change – not against it. “The goal is not to end industry; it’s part of our modern life,” she exclaims. “The point is to understand what you eat so you can make informed choices. I urge the industry to be cautious, even though these changes will inevitably cost more money, and require the community to make such changes so that the food is closer to the source.”
This article was written in collaboration with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
The Environment and Climate Change portal is produced in collaboration with the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The Jerusalem Post retains all editorial decisions related to the content.
